Abbott backs traffic scheme that would boost her house value

LABOUR shadow cabinet member Diane Abbott has angered her neighbours by backing a controversial traffic scheme that could send the value of her own £1million house soaring.

More than 1,000 people have signed a petition against plans to close a number of roads in Hackney, East London. A meeting to discuss the issue was halted after it was overrun by more than 200 furious residents.

But the MP for Hackney North and Stoke Newington, pictured, has endorsed the divisive scheme, which could see her road transformed into a much quieter street.

Miss Abbott, 62, who once had a fling with Jeremy Corbyn, wrote on Twitter: ‘Welcome trial traffic filtering scheme for cleaner greener Hackney.’ The project would see 13 junctions closed. Estate agents said Miss Abbott’s property, which is worth just under £1million, and other properties in the street could see a boost of tens of thousands of pounds to their value.

But a source close to Miss Abbott told the Daily Telegraph that it was unfair to link her support for the traffic scheme to the benefits it might have for her house price, insisting: ‘She isn’t thinking of selling so that has nothing to do with it.’ The trial – which will start in January, run for three months and cost £60,000 – is being funded by Transport for London as part of plans to make cycling safer in the capital.